joining us at post nine cnbc contributor larry kudlow hello, larry. >> david, how are you?man on the other side of the oil from you. >> they always are. >> i like that about you >> goodman. >> always keep things civil. trillion dollar deficit. obviously i know where you come from are you worried at all about that why isn't it discussed >> well, look. i know my pal jason makes that case now in his administration they doubled the debt from 10 to $20 trillion look, the key to deficits in my view, you've got to limit government, yes, but you also must grow the economy. and the model of growth we had in the prior administration was 2% with a lot of spending and health care and so forth that's not the way -- if you are worried about balancing the budget, that won't do it what you need to do to move towards balance or reduce deficits is grow the economy it's the single biggest factor so in my view, because of trump's policies, particularly on the economy and taxes and so forth, we can have 3, 4% growth for a whole bunch of years, and this will do more than anything else to lower t

larry kudlow >> once in a row >> thank you very much >> all right, turning overseas now.eveloping story we're following out of iran. political protests continuing for a sixth day as protesters attack several police stations overnight, leaving at least 20 dead michelle caruso-cabrera joins us with more on the demonstrations. >> the lack of political freedom in iran is well known. less noted is the lack of economic freedom, which leads to an inefficient economy with high levels of inflation and unemployment initial reports indicated they started because of inflation, egg prices had gone up 9% in a week and are up nearly 54% from a year ago double-digit inflation is a long running problem in iran. it's actually improved recently. look at these numbers. currently, inflation running between 10% and 12%. in 2015, 11.3% 2014, 14.7%. 2013, 32%. unemployment also high 12.4%. for men specifically, only 10.7%. for women, unemployment is a whopping 20.7% youth unemployment is 29%. for young men, 25% for young women, 44% unemployment the economy did improve after some of the sanctions

. >> let's bring in terry haynes and larry kudlow, cnbc's senior contributor. good to see you both larry, what's your best guess about what happens right now >> well, the most sensible thing i've heard is majority leader mitch mcconnell said, we're going to stay here all weekend and keep voting. >> the senate is, but -- >> they need 60 votes. the house is not going to be a big problem, i don't think the house got something through with the children's health care program. >> the only thing the senate could do without the house being around would be to approve their house bill, right? >> not necessarily you could have kind of a tax reform-like informal conference. these things can be done and then just knock them through but they have to keep voting they have to otherwise they'll leave for a week just want to put some perspective on this. i went back and looked cnbc had a great chart on the website of budget shutdown days. and i worked in reagan's budget office in his first term i lived through seven budget day shutdowns which meant nothing to the overall economy.

joining us right now to wrap up this week economically, larry kudlow, senior contributor here at cnbcow, this administration would not be the first one to trip over dollar policy statements because, in fact, a stronger dollar is in the best interest of the united states, but so is a lower dollar, right? >> no, it's not. >> sure it is. >> i'm a king dollar guy how about a strong, stable, reliable currency to make america great, you need to make your currency great. now, i love the joe kernen interview. hats off to joe. i think the president covered it absolutely covered it. steve mnuchin was going around, caught up in his own rhetoric, but he clarified it. the dollar's going to go up. i don't know when, but better growth and higher interest rates, the dollar is going to go up it's fallen back to 2011 or 2012 i'm a bull on the dollar this be that as it may, the treasury is jaw-boning -- they can intervene but the dollar is a function of the economy. when you have a high growth -- reagan, tax cuts, federal reserve, inflation out of the system, the dollar soared for three, four, five year

let's talk more about what's happening in washington a >> joining us is larry kudlow, cnbc contributor you for being here you're in the book price. >> i didn't read the book yet. what did they say? >> mentioned there's a battle, steve bannon wants you to be head of the national council of economic advisers. >> jared kushner -- >> gary cohn. >> i'm for gary cohn. >> we know how that turned out. >> he did a great job on taxes i'm terrifically happy to come down here every friday. >> you tweeted out today you think it's a good thing, bannon, your supportive, previously. good thing he's gone. >> steve ban ennnon and i are friends. treated me great his policies always troubled me. he wanted to raise tax rates on the most successful people in fact, h e wanted the top rate to go from 39.6% to 44%. steve moore and i on several occasions tried to talk him out of that. he has this notion that we want to hurt the upper end in order to help the middle that's just economic nonsense. it's economic illiteracy you want everyone, in fact, the basic definition of populism is prosperity for all that's th

we're joined by larry kudlow to talk about this. sir, thank you for joining us, along with dave lawler, deputy editor at axios. larry, we wanted to start with your reporting/news on nafta do you think the president is staying in >> i'm hearing the president is leaning towards staying in and not withdrawing from nafta negotiations this is made by his top economic people like treasury secretary steve mnuchin and others they're afraid would be bad for business, be bad for confidence, damage energy, agriculture, a lot of others, including automobiles. i can't say that with 100% certainty but that's what i'm hearing. there's an election coming up in mexico if we withdrawal from mexico and launch some tirade against mexico, that could help elect a left-wing president, which we don't need, neither do the mexicans at the moment, i think the theme is negotiate several more rounds are ahead of us it's not going to be an easy negotiation but it is preferable negotiation. negotiation is always preferable to pulling out of these very important tr

trump's presidency look like, a democratic from new jersey and our larry kudlow good to have you bothere >> thank you for having me >> we had a fun conversation with larry here, we are glad to have you back. >> hi, how are you, larry? >> my favorite democrat and you said everybody is going to have one. >> you are my favorite former. one of the things that's on the table is a proposal that you and others come up with to address the voter pain, i guess that you see arising from the in ability of many people in your district to deduct the full amount of their state and local taxes and property taxes and you got a novel idea under which states would give, you would pay some of your tax as a charitable donation do you think that really would stand up in court or in congress >>> well, i am going to get to that >> one as you pointed out, i heard this from republicans and democrats in my district when i was home is that wait a minute, our taxes are going up suddenly, we are not able to deduct our property taxes and being on a cap of $10,000 and seriously gutted on our property values is going

. >> we have another one of the cooks in the kitchen let's bring in larry kudlow. he was with the president yesterday. he points out the timing is difficult. >> a very relaxed president trump, spoke to us for, i don't know, off the cuff 30, 35 minutes? took questions and then he hung out with us for more, some night pics, and he's going to dwell a lot, i think, on the economy we're open for business in davos, a popular line, he has accomplished enormously. he's going to talk about tax reform, going to talk about regulatory reform. he was particularly yesterday insistent on going into the regulatory rollback, and eamon is right, with respect to infrastructure, the president made that same connection. you know, these approval processes, and other reforms are very important to get that stuff done he will go that whole hog. >> are we going to get dystoppian trump sort of semi-angry trump >> no. no >> things are pretty good over last year? let's highlight the positives? >> this will be, i think, the way it was yesterday an optimistic president, and we'll hear what i cal

let's bring in larry kudlow, libby cantrell is head of public policy at pimco. welcome to both of you larry, you go first you are a free trader, also a fair trade. >> it's unfair practice? >> i haven't seen all the stats from the itc they're pretty reliable, but i don't like this as a general rule president trump has done so much things to restructure the economy toward the private business investment sector, and it's all working the tax reform and deregulation is all working, so i hope he goes light on these kinds of protectionist issues it's kind of strange you talk about washing machines and solar panels, right? so one of the big -- let's see the solar panel company is a chinese company operating in the united states. there's a german company, solarworld is a german company operating in the united states, samsung wants to begin a washing machine company with 600 workers operated in tennessee. >> well, they are. >> who are we harming and who are we helping here? that's what -- i'd like to see a more broad-based approach rather than one nick at a time. >> if you

. >>> on that note, joining us here at post nine, larry kudlow.rkets commentator great to have you. >> thank you. >> goldman out with some rough call collisions of industry pricing on washers 8% to 20% and not all borne by the con surmer. >> well, look. tariffs are taxes. and a cost so consumers get hurt by this. always and in fanct, maybe supply chain consumers. businesss that are involved in this you know, it's so weird to me. this kind of piecemeal stuff may sound bravado but, look, the president and i have had discussions about this down through the last couple of years. i just don't buy it. i mean, here on the solar panels, i'm sure you know this but i think kayla -- owned bay chinese company. is that right? solar world. solar world is owned bay german company but based here so who's -- we're damaging who to get who exactly and these are jobs one of the washing machine companies, samsung, wants to set up 600 worker factory in georgia. who are we hurting and helping nowadays i want a broad based i think steve schwartzman had it right. you can'

guys >> 2018 is under way what's the expectations for the economy and the market lets bring in larry kudlowll go in old school and take you back into your forecasting, it seems to me the key of the economy will be whether or not there is a big capital spending. traceable in part to the tax law and to where we are in the economic cycle what are you thinking? >> i built in business capital x and cap x boom i built in a profit number of 10%. that is may turn out to be very cautious it is hard to know the distribution of the profits as a consequence. just looking at 2018, i am going to put in 10%. i do think interest rates are going up i think long-term rates are going to go up i use the investment grade it is about 420 now. probably will go to 4 and 3 quarters it is higher capital returns as the consequence of the business investment booming coming. so just to get myself in hot water, back in the envelope, using a discounted earning space and discount rate is, i actually get a modest 6% rise in the s&p 500. it is roughly now, 2750 or something like that in. >> 2700. >> i got it up to 2850 next

. >> don't move, steve, we have larry kudlow on set. it's hard to measure some of them are basically optimism measures. how optimistic are you, that eventually translates into the real economic, doesn't it? >> i agree i agree with steve's report. the animals spirits have been rising, confidence has been rising, both consumers and business confidence rising look, cap ex is really important. >> capital expenditures. >> really important, whether you look at factory orders or industrial production and business equipment, they have really taken off in the last couple quarters and have been responsible for most of the increase in gdp from around 2% to 3%. also, profits have been increasing you know, we had a profit slump for almost two years, from about the middle of 2016 up to now, profits have rebounded and vastly out3r678d who everybody was looking for. what mr. trump has been doing with respect do lower business taxes and rollback, is to increase, to increase the outlook for profits, which increases the outlook for business strengths, whi

. >> larry kudlow is here. >> and ben white as well >> look, i acknowledge that it's only been officiallycouple of weeks. most of us have been gathering steam since it became clear as i reported that the gop would get it done before year-end. steve, you have 100 companies yourself >> 100 companies what, larry >> they have linked tax reform to wage increases -- >> no, no. >> bonuses, larry. bonuses. >> i'm fine with bonuses, steve. >> i am, too but a bonus is not a wage increase. >> yeah, but you've got to go from a to b. the knock-on effects are going to be terrific any investment boom -- >> potentially, yeah >> what this tax bill is doing, president trump and the congress are restructuring the american economy. they are now getting us back away from tax and regulatory burdens, back towards the business sector, business investment sector and private sector incentives. the punishing of investment is coming to an end so you go from a to b to c to d. tim cook who is no trump admi admirer, part of his decision was a business one. >> which it should always be. >> and part of it was linked not

. >> meanwhile, tony, we have earnings, which larry kudlow tells us is the lifeblood of the stock market do you assess how we've been doing so far this season as we make our way through, what is admittedly going to be a confusing earnings reporting season given the advent of the tax reform here. >> great question. where we fall out is you want to upgrade the quality of the companies you own right now. you want to avoid excitement and own great businesses we wish we could know how to trade netflix around and things like that to make a buck here and there. what you want to do is migrate down in valuation to protect yourself from what is a -- you know, an increasingly rough market when you look at where the valuations are at, the sentiment built around an increasingly bull market going forward. you don't want to get lulled to sleep by a one-direction market and this is the time to migrate down in valuation. >> sarge, anything you'd add there before we go we've been off to a crazy -- you have to acknowledge, nasdaq up 7% dow and s&p up nearly 6% is it justified? >> for one, i'll trade the ne

on the trump train, but i've been very supportive of trump's policies, pro-growth policies from larry kudlow and stephen moore. and it took a little time for him to overcome the fake news and get his policies through, but what i saw was during the obama administration companies were so overregulated, overtaxed -- neil: you said that that was actually a bigger problem for them than taxes. it was just that that was weighing them down. >> overregulation, people were pushing money offshore. the only way the s&p 500 companies were making money was by cutting. you don't grow by cutting. and when i saw trump talking about tax reform that was sensible, when i started hearing him talk seriously about repatriation of cash which, companies, yeah, they'll make capital expenditure investments, they'll hire people, start new divisions. and last of all, i think trump deregulating has caused more innovation, and it helps companies, public companies, and it spurs growth. neil: do you see this growth continuing? >> oh, my god, neil, ten years i've been coming on with you, i've never said anything positively l

let's bring in larry kudlow and john harwood john, first to you the news a little bit of a surprise because orrin hatch knows the ramifications, right >> i don't consider it very surprising orrin hatch is 83 years old. he's been in the senate for four decades. who would want to stay there forever? especially after he's just completed the passage of the tax bill, which was a major accomplishment for him as the chairman of the finance committee. not -- not -- you talk about going out on a high note now, mitt romney is the likely successor. there's been a lot of talk about him running. i've talked to several republicans today who expect him to run people in washington who are close to senate planning for 2018 he is overwhelmingly likely to win both the primary and a general election if he does. and that poses some risks for the president because mitt romney is somebody who unlike people like bob corker or jeff flame, he has presidential stature, himself he is not concerned about his political future and he's been a very staunch critic of president trump from a moral place, as well as from a po

i think of my history of my time of appearing with you folks on cnbc, i started out in '09 on larry kudlow'sw and they put me and three other people in a little box on the screen and they had me on there, we were a small nobody official, bi was a token bull they couldn't find anybody to be bullish in '09 they had this guy from seattle come on the show and be bullish. and we were very bullish and we were very lonely and we were on in h '10 and on in '11 and on in '12, on in '13 and we were the token bull for five years and now you bring people on and they're crawling all over each other to be the most bullish the people that -- >> how does that make you feel does that -- someone who's always pretty much fully invested like you said >> first of all, so what we're doing to do with our portfolio, we're going to tack toward as much as we possibly can with as little turnover as possible to the companies we would want to sit through a bear market with and i don't agree with the logic about the 10% to 15% correction. i can tell you, with financial assets as a percentage of household net worth this h

. >> i sent larry kudlow one. >> do you have it cleaned?en i'm coming on the air >> how -- >> about once a month. >> it gets a little bit, you know, in volatile times, you must get a little bit nervous. >> yes yes. it gets a little gamey, there's no question about it. >> really? really >> it probably is right now. i will have it cleends todaned y see, i'm making you happy now. >> i can't believe you just god into that. >> i did i did. that's why people keep moving like this. when you sit -- anyway >> all right, jim. >> exactly. >> all right we'll see you later. thanks. >>> to you, andrew. >> coming up, when we return, we just talked about a potential ge breakup. what about a potential breakup of facebook and/or google or maybe even amazon? it would be a mptecolely different reason but it's a story that's generating a big debate this morning. we've got the details about that next i think that she's a very nice girl... you never got the brakes looked at? oh yeah. no. at cognizant, we're helping today's leading manufacturers make things that t